Spot Zoning

Plymouth Councilman William Culp said he was surprised by the decision. Council Chairman William I. English said he was not. But both agree on one thing: Plymouth Township will appeal the recent decision by its Zoning Hearing Board that paved the way for Carmen Danella to construct a trash-transfer station on 17.5 acres he owns at 1409 Conshohocken Rd. "That is what our solicitor has advised," English said when asked if the township would...

After a presentation by an attorney for adjacent property owners, the Marple commissioners denied a developer's request to rezone a residential tract near Springton Reservoir Monday night. Vincent Mancini, who said he represented residents of Media Line Road whose properties abutted the 4.74-acre Springton Cove tract owned by Darrell A. Pennington, used an enlarged zoning map to show the commissioners that surrounding properties were zoned R-A. Changing the zoning from R-A to R-B - as Pennington has petitioned the township to do - would allow him to build four houses on the plot instead of two. Rezoning would constitute "spot zoning," Mancini said, which is not permissible by law. Ben Mitchell, a resident of Media Line Road, said allowing Pennington to put smaller houses in the area would adversely affect the values of area houses, whose owners had "all invested a significant amount of money in erecting structures" that comply with R-A regulations.

Neighbors of a proposed 150-unit housing development on 100 acres in Berwyn voiced concerns last week over traffic congestion that the development could bring to the area. Representatives of the developer, Linpro/Weingartner Partnership, made an informal presentation Tuesday to the Easttown Township Planning Commission, to get the commission members' initial reaction to the plan. Many residents near the Linpro/Weingartner parcel, which fronts on Darby- Paoli, Grubbs Mill and South Valley Roads, objected to the potential traffic tie-ups at the intersection of Darby-Paoli and Argyle Roads, across from the main entrance of the proposed development.

Developer Guisseppe Giaimo has presented the Warminster Township Planning Commission with a sketch plan for development of his property on Street Road near Cooper Drive. Curt Shaffer, an attorney representing Giaimo, outlined the proposal for a one-story, 12,000-square-foot building to be constructed on 1.85 acres. Shaffer said the building would house two or three tenants. Shaffer said it could be possible for Giaimo to move his pizza parlor, which is across Street Road in the Warminster Square Shopping Center, into the building.

A Montgomery County Court panel has upheld a ruling that rejected a developer's plans to build apartments and offices on the Valley Forge Golf Course. A two-judge panel on Friday upheld the township Zoning Hearing Board's decision in August 1999 denying a zoning challenge by Realen Valley Forge Green Associates of Ambler. It sought to have the site's status changed from agricultural to allow a proposed 380,000-square-foot residential and commercial complex. The plans called for building 192 townhomes, 480 apartment units, three commercial pad sites, two hotels and a retail center on what is the last large piece of open space in the township.

Mayor Goode holds produce vendor Barry Esterman's fate in his hands, but the mayor wasn't talking. Goode had until tomorrow to veto a bill that would force Esterman, 24, to move his vending truck from its location on Bergen Street outside the Bells Corner Shopping Center. The center's anchor, Holiday Market, requested the bill to eliminate competition from Esterman, who lives in the neighborhood. The mayor's press secretary, Karen Warrington, said Goode would have no comment.

City officials and residents of Center City's Logan Square neighborhood will have the summer to wrangle over a proposed 1,500-foot skyscraper - it would be the nation's tallest - that would be built at 18th and Arch Streets. Councilman Darrell L. Clarke introduced a bill yesterday to change zoning at the site to allow for the American Commerce Center, a soaring complex of office space, hotel rooms, retail and entertainment. The building would edge out Chicago's Sears Tower, which reaches 1,451 feet, as the tallest building in the United States.

A Darby Borough roofing contractor's application for a zoning variance to operate a roofing garage and storage facility in a residential neighborhood has been denied by the Borough Zoning Board. Robert P. Allen and his attorney, John J. Robinson, left a public hearing on the variance Tuesday before the board voted unanimously to deny Allen's request to convert 231 Lawrence Ave. into a roofing garage. Testimony was first presented on the application last month, when the board voted to continue the hearing until Tuesday's meeting.

The Doylestown Zoning Board voted 3-0 on Monday to turn down the petitions of owners of four lots along Dorothy Avenue who protested the zoning change of their properties from commercial to residential. The decision prevents Henry and Josephine Light, owners of three of the properties, and Bruce and Kathy Sanders, who own one lot, from operating businesses. The board's vote reaffirmed a zoning ordinance change enacted by the township supervisors last year when the dividing line separating residential from commercial was moved eastward from the center of Dorothy Avenue to the rear of the four properties.

It's beginning to look as if St. George's Coptic Church may need a miracle. For more than a year now, the church, whose congregation is made up of Egyptian Christians, has been seeking to rezone a 2.5-acre site at 2004 Spring Mill Rd. in Whitemarsh from residential to institutional. The church, now at Third and Forest Avenues in Conshohocken, has outgrown the building and wants to build a new church on the Whitemarsh site. On Tuesday night, however, the Whitemarsh Township Planning Commission voted, 4-0, to recommend that the Board of Supervisors reject the church's request for the zoning change.